Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Faces Budget Cuts

by scrosby on December 17, 2008

Like many other institutes of higher education, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is facing budget cuts. The school depends largely on its endowment, which has suffered in the global financial downturn. President Dr. Al Mohler says they’re predicting a $3.2 million budget shortfall, which represents about nine-percent of their budget.

Mohler says the seminary isn’t in dire trouble, but responsible cuts need to be made.

“We are facing this challenge because we have been doing so well,” says Mohler. “We have so many students, a record enrollment and we’ve been doing really well financially, but like everyone else that has a significant endowment in the current investment situation, we’ve got to be really, really careful to be good stewards of those funds.”

Mohler has put travel and hiring freezes in place, and anticipates layoffs in the coming months.

He says one of his top priorities is not raising tuition, as the poor economy is making it even harder for seminarians to afford training.